deadline. this morning he laid out just how far he'll go to get that deal. >> i'm willing to cut spending on domestic programs. taking them to the lowest level since eisenhower. i'm willing to cut defense spending at the pentagon by hundreds of billions of dollars. i'm willing to take on the rising costs of health care programs like medicare and mode cade. so these programs will be there for the next generation. >> will come to order -- >> this morning on the senate floor a vote on cut, cap and balance. the tea party backed bill included big spending cuts, a cap on spending and a constitutional amendment. >> it's a correct approach. this is fundamentally a spending problem. >> it passed in the house earlier this house. >> this vote the yeas are the 34. >> today majority leader harry reid grudgingly scheduled a senate vote. it failed just as he predicted.

>> this is a very, very bad piece of legislation. >> today's vote could clear the way for one of several compromise deals. >> we all know mr. president there are talks going on between president obama and speaker boehner. >> this was a bit of hope yesterday when "the new york times" reported a possible deal between president obama and house speaker boehner. both sides quickly denied it. >> there is no deal. we are not close to a deal. >> there is no deal. no deal publicly, no deal privately. there is absolutely no deal. >> but he didn't say they're not talking about it. >> we've got to keep the lines of communication open. we talked about fall back options if in fact cut, cap and balance does go down. i do think that it's our obligation to have a fall back plan. >> a flurry of meetings this week and yet the gap between the two sides seems to widen. democrats are standing firm on protecting entitlements. >> they're more willing to decimate medicare than they are willing to take away a dime way from the most profitable

corporations on the planet. >> republicans are refusing to give in on taxes. with time running out standard and poors called a meeting with house republican freshman to explain the consequences of a default. >> clearly the markets are watching. we're well awir of that. we're approaching it very softly. >> nbc's kelly o'donnell on capitol hill and mike is at the white house. mike, president obama made his case today at a town hall meeting in maryland. what's his next move? >> reporter: it's interesting the president continues to put the onus on house republicans calling them out for what he regards as intransigence not willing to compromise and shared political pain. to listen to this president at the university of maryland you would almost think that all the events of the last week have really not taken place. the on again, off again nature of the so-called $4 trillion grand bargain. the fading star, if you will of the mcconnell reid plan in the senate is sort of the scaled

back option seems is very much up in the air. one of the thing it's curious why the president continues to hit house republicans it's house and especially senate democrats who are fuming over what has been put forward at least that has they understand it what is on the table now in terms of entitlement cuts in terms of what they regard a lack of concrete specificity on tax reform and making the wealthy pay their fair share as the president said time and time again and again today. >> kelly, let's go to you. at this point we heard from boehner talking about what's next in this cut, cap and balance which so many republicans were insisting was their plan. and now really goes back on him. here's what he said about the weekend to come in preparation for these debt negotiations. >> with regard to yesterday i'm going to say it one more time, there was no agreement publicly, privately, never an agreement. and frankly not close to an

agreement. so i would just suggest that it's going to be a hot weekend here in washington, d.c. >> is the ball really back in boehner's court given the failure of cut, cap and balance? >> reporter: there's a lot of pressure on speaker boehner who really pushed for cut, cap and balance until the final breath of this piece of legislation. as you mentioned senate democrats were able to move that off the agenda trying to kill it so you would get more of a spirited compromise that's part of the political intention of getting rid of that. now they've got to do something else. republicans have been frustrated because their plan was ready to go all written already. i just bumped into members of the gang of six who are now a gang of eight, they picked up a couple of members. they were meeting this morning with senator reid. i said who's it going? i was told, i don't know. it's a mess. it's a mess. now these are the people who know a lot about the budget plan, ways to cut the deficit and things like that. so what we're getting a sense of are all sides are trying to back

away from the notion that something is imminent. that doesn't mean they're not still talking. we get the idea that the conversation is the still going, there's frustration, i'm hearing it from republicans and democrats that they don't know what the president and boehner are talking about and they don't like being left out. >> that's anything thing we heard of. we're not supporting the gangs that come behind closed doors and come to their agreements between a small fraction of the larger body and come back and say here's what we're going to do. >> reporter: does that sound familiar? is that something that republicans ran on in large part gave raise rise to the tea party over all the back room goings on. >> anybody who's tried to get an agreement between three people, and six people or 400 people knows it's easier to do it when the group the smaller. >> reporter: there's obedience to it, as soon as they get

details, that slows it up. >> true. one of the details and you've got tea party people saying look, they're not details. they are general broad proposals, but the president you heard him saying today look, i'm willing to tackle entitlements. congressman elliot engel is a democrat from new york joins me now. i know that there's a lot of concern on the part of democrats we heard it from claire mccaskill there about the president's willingness to take a scalpel to medicare, for instance. what's your stand on this? >> we're very resolute. those of us in the new york congressional delegation that we will not stand for massive cuts to medicare, medicaid. we're fighting back on the graduate medical education fight. new york teaching hospitals train 15% of the nation's doctors. and we heard a rumor that this may be on the chopping block. it would devastate new york's hospitals in terms of providing

care in terms of people losing their jobs. we're not just going to say any agreement is better than no greechlt frankly i think if the republicans continue to give the president a hard time, he ought to invoke the 14th amendment which simply says that the public debt shall not be questioned and move on with it. i don't think that the ultraright can hold us hostage because they won't even close any kind of tax loopholes or agree that people that can pay a little bit more should pay more. this could not all be done simply with budget cuts. they know it. we know it. and i don't think we need to cave. >> the interesting thing is that the president has said it's unsustainable. what's happening with medicare, for instance, the growth in it it's just unsustainable in the long run. it's got to be addressed. there's been an unwillingness because of the political repercussions to truly tackle what's wrong with it. is this an opportunity? do you see it as an opportunity at least to go to the medicare drawing board and go what works, what doesn't and how do we fix

it? >> it's an opportunity, sure. but it's only an opportunity if the tea party people and the ultraright people are willing to also say that people who are doing well should pay a little more. the bush tax cuts are not sustainable. the corporate loopholes for big oil is not sustainable. >> right. >> there are a lot of things that are not sustainable besides medicare and medicaid and social security so if everything has to be on the table. everything truly has to be on the table. not that we cut social programs and then we'll talk about perhaps closing a few loopholes. that's not acceptable. >> congressman it's good of you to join us today. i appreciate your time and pers peblgtive. i wanted to show a quick live shot here of president obama doing some handshaking. getting his picture taken in maryland following a town hall meeting. the that mor for him to exercise that 14th amendment, you heard congressman engel refer to is becoming louder. it was suggested by a guy in the crowd in maryland. we'll be keeping an eye on that.

in a meantime you have a number of american mayors wharning the dprovt that a default will have severe consequences for their towns. you have business experts warning that a default could have a big impact on individual retirement accounts or possible income taxes. so my big question today, how can america prepare in the event of a default? i'd love to hear what you think. what you're doing personally. you can reach me on facebook, twitter, email. and melissa francis will join me to talk about the implications in 15 minutes. breaking news now out of ooslo, norway. at least one explosion has rocked the country's government headquarters. we're told two people are now confirmed dead and several others are injured. according to one government official we may actually see people trapped here in the building. this blast so big it shattered nearly all the windows at a high rise there in oslo. nbc's martin fletcher is following the developments from london. what do you have, martin?

>> the bomb seems to targeted oslo's main government building. 17 stories high. yet almost all the windows blown out. the office of norway's prime minister was damaged. he wasn't in his office and he wasn't hurt. although there are reports that at least eight people injured. two deaths reported so far. there's also reports that some people may be trapped inside the building. it's in the city center, an area of office buildings, caves, shops. damage spread over half a mile. there was panic when the bomb exploded. people knock over chairs in caves running away. they were afraid that could be another explosion. nobody did claim responsibility yet. there are investigations by the police into whether or not the bomb was a car bomb. earlier this month norweigian police areased three men suspect of the planning bomb attacks in oslo. at the time they said they may have had connections with al qaeda, but that's pure

speculation. >> i'm getting a note from the associated press that the office of broadcaster has been sealed off because of a suspicious package. do investigators think that there may be mor targets, more explosions to come? >> they're very concerned. there's always concern when there's one bomb, you're always afraid there's more. because of the suspicion that maybe al qaeda or any kind of terrorist group is involved, of course, there's a possibility of more attacks in the center of oslo now. the police have said it's under the most stringent security possible. the police are not -- the government is not saying for instance, where the prime minister is at the moment for security rbs. >> we're keeping our eye now on the news out of oslo. martin, fletcher my thanks to you. we will give you an update on the people we're told may be trapped inside the building when we get confirmation on that front. the suffocating heat wave suffocating the country is

getting deadlier. the extreme heat is blamed for two dozen at the times. a west point cadet found dead in a field last night is presumed to have died from the excessive heat. the weather channel's chris warren is in the thick of it. how are you seeing the park out there and how many people are willing to be out braving these triple digit temperatures? >> braving is an interesting choice of a word i think, contessa. people are out here because they have to. they're going from museum to museum and some people are playing ultimate frisbee. the tourists seem to be moving the slowest. they're not used to the heat. not a lot of people are used to this much heat. a lot of people were out running this morning. this is some very serious heat we're talking about. excessive heat warning until 10:00 in washington, d.c. that's the story up and down the east coast, the mid-atlantic and

northeast. tomorrow that excessive heat warning in effect until 8:00. the overnight hours think about this, still very hot. midnight last night many spots were spill right around 90 degrees. this morning we walked out at 4:00 in the morning it was 84. right now it's 99. feels like 114 when you factor in the humidity. the fact that your sweat's not evaporating you're not cooling off. it feels hotter than the thermometer, the thermometer is reading something pretty. 99 is hot. >> since you mentioned it's not cooling off at night, that's a real problem for the transformers for the power lines. the equipment itself doesn't cool off when it's that hot. that's why we sometimes see them bloeg. it has been nine days since the body of a ceos girlfriend was hanging in his mansion. why police still don't know if it was murder or suicide. plus casey anthony's acquittal, why tax payers are on the hook for defending her. first a look at wall street.

we're down 31 points. the stocks opened lower today on weak results from caterpillar the world's largest maker of construction equipment. investors are waiting for this impasse to get resolved over the debt ceiling limit. we'll be right back. >> so, ah, your seat good? got the mirrors all adjusted? you can see everything ok? just stay off the freeways, all right? i don't want you going out on those yet. and leave your phone in your purse, i don't want you texting. >> daddy... ok!

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some extremely frightening moments on intertate 90 in northern new york state this morning when a tractor-trailer crashed into a packed tour bus. police say the truck driver was killed and at least 24 people were sent to the hospital. the crash happened just outside rochester and both vehicles caught fire. the tour bus was from canada heading to new york city. police in los angeles are arrested two people accused of

beating a baseball fan outside dodgers stadium on opening day. law enforcement sources tell the l.a. times that another man police arrested in connection with the case back in may is no longer a -- considered a suspect. 42-year-old brian stowe was visually attacked in the stadium parking lot in march. his condition took a turn for the worst this week when he suffered see seizures and underwent emergency surgery. what a shame. as casey anthony gets job offers, tax payers are getting her legal bills. lawyers won't reveal where she's hiding. the state of florida has reimbursed her defense lawyers for $119,000 in expenses and another $5800 bill is pending. prosecutors haven't finalized their total expenses but could run close to $100,000 on their side. two young people are now facing several felony charges after police say they attacked an iowa congressman in his home over the weekend.

20-year-old david dew berry allegedly burst into the home of congressman leonard bosswell saturday. police say he pointed what turned out to be a bebe gun at the daughter before being tackled by the 77-year-old congressman. that's when his grandson pointed a shotgun at the attacker with then fled. the congressman joins us from capitol hill. we're glad that you survived that okay. are you feeling all right? >> i'm feeling fine. i'm glad it's behind us. i'm glad the perpetrators have been caught. >> i understand you were bruised and cut up a little bit, is that correct that you cracked a rib? >> that's correct. >> did you have any second thoughts when it was time. i know you were worried about your daughter. you said the attacker grabbed her. did you have any second thoughts about getting involved yourself physically? >> no. it was the right thing to do. my daughter was in danger. if he's threat tong shoot, i'd rather have him shooting at me than her and i decided to go

after him. >> your wife says she knew the attacker. she gave a statement where she said i was disappointed to learn that the alleged intruder at my family's farmhouse was david. years ago david swam in our pond played on our land. my thoughts and prayers are with his family. there are no win ners a situation like this. what did you know about -- or what can you tell us about this young man who's now been arrested? >> his mother came there to get some assistance from my wife who was a schoolteacher at the time. and she saw a need. she reached out. she came out to co-some part time work and so on while the youngster came along. as simple as that. then these many years later he grew up and did something she should not have done. >> i guess it's lucky that your grandson was there and a shotgun usually beats out a bebe gun in this case. are you rethinking security at

all around your home? >> we will continue to be cautious. we do lock doors when we retire for the night. yes, we've had guns in the house. we have had my entire life. raised with them and so on on. i'm very proud of my grandson. he reacted quickly. i didn't realize he was doing that. when we were having our tussle up and down the stairway trying to disarm the perpetrator, but at that moment, he was there and that stopped everything. it put a stop to it. >> i'm sure your grandson is pretty proud of you, too. he has a tough grandfather for sure to take on an intruder that way. congressman, again, we're glad that you're feeling better now. thank you so much for sharing a little bit of your experience. >> i'm very proud of my daughter, my wife, my grandson, my grandson is my hero today. he's kind of a cool hand. and i hope nobody else has to experience such a situation. >> sounds like everybody kept their heads about them in a very

driflt situation. have a good weekend, sir. >> thank you very much and you, too. >> about 2/3 of the country dealing with oppressive heat today in some cities the temperature will hit 110 degrees. i know phoenix, i know, you get 110 all the time. but this is 110 degrees and humid. and don't be complaining about your commute to work. imagine if it took you more than two days and 16 miles worth of traffic to get there. that is a traffic jam. be right back. [ male announcer ] this...is the network -- a network of possibilities. in here, the planned combination of at&t and t-mobile would deliver our next generation mobile broadband experience to 55 million more americans, many in small towns and rural communities, giving them a new choice. we'll deliver better service, with thousands of new cell sites... for greater access to all the things you want, whenever you want them. it's the at&t network... and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say.

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caught on camera, a teenage boy in china stuck in a gap between two ten-foot walls. the space was sa narrow the 13-year-old could barely move his arm. he was wedged there for ten hours. firefighters tried to get into the wall. after three hours they did manage to knock down the whole

thing, get him out. he was okay. no word on how it happened in the fist place. elsewhere in china a hellish traffic jam. cars have been backed up since tuesday on one of the country's biggest truck routes. chinese state tv said it could take more than 40 hours, almost two days for drivers to make the 62-mile journey. that's a workweek in and of itself. still no deal on the debt ceiling. 11 days until the final deadline. how that could influence what you're able to save. plus, is it running or not? what donald trump now says about the presidential election. caught on the web today and one of the top searches on googles is for "better homes and garden." the magazine is making the first lady its august cover girl. it's the first time a famous person has been on that cover in more than four decades. michelle obama tells the magazine she's focused on

fighting childhood obesity because it's easier to change kids' habits than adults. the winkle vosz twins are not taking kindly to being called a holes. the twins say in an open let tore the current president of harvard that he couldn't be bothered to shake hands with him because it would have meant taking his feet off their desk. i'm not sure what they expect the current president of harvard to do about the former president, but there it is. a new survey shows the number one way people lose their contact list is by dropping their phones in the toilet. 39% of people admit bringing their phones into the privy. really the people you're talking to in the john know where you are. it's not a secret. they probably wish you'd lose their contact information. remember the old fashioned days when you memorized people's numbers?

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welcome back to msnbc. we have breaking news from oslo, norway. at least two people have been killed. the count now 15 others injured when a bomb exploded at the prime minister's office in oslo. nbc's martin fletcher is following the developments. we are getting some new details. first off, what can you tell us about whether they are people trapped? >> there have been reports of people trapped in the burning building. not confirmed yet. the threat level in oslo has been raised as fear of more bombs. people have been warned to leave the center of oslo or stay indoors. the bombs seem to have targeted the main government building. 17 stories high. it had almost all the windows blown autoand the office of the prime minister was damaged. he wasn't in his office and he

wasn't hurt. there are reports at least eight people injured. two deaths reported so far. it was in the city center. an area of office buildings, ka fa is, shops, damage over half a mile. panic when the bomb exploded. people knocking over chairs in caves, running away. nobody's claimed responsibility so far. police are investigating whether it was a phosphate nitrate car bomb. earlier this month norweigian police arrested three men suspected of planning car attacks in oslo. at the time they were said to have connections to al qaeda, but so far nothing is confirmed about who did it. >> i'm getting a new note from the associated press that a nor wee jaj newspaper says somebody in a police uniform has opened fire at a youth camp outside oslo. i'm not making any connection here between the two incidents, but certainly for this city it seems like they're dealing with a lot of danger. and as you said, a lot of concern about who might be behind this. whether there was a car bomb

involved. and at this point a suspicious package at the -- one of the broadcasters there. i think it's called tv 2. it looks like the investigators have a lot going on now to try to get their -- to get under control. >> absolutely. as i've said they're clearly asking people to leave the city center. they're worried about more attacks. they found a suspicious package. there is a report of a man in a police uniform firing an automatic weapon near youth camp. none of these things have been confirmed. but there's great fear in the norweigian capital. >> thank you for keeping tabs on that. we'll touch back in with you. power companies are bracing for a busy weekend with a massive heat wave moving east. baking a large part of the country. the extreme heat and suffocating humidity are testing the strength of the electrical grid. the situation is so severe some electricity providers are considering rolling blackouts or brownouts to reduce the massive

amounts of electricity people are using. the weather channel's carl parker joins me live now. how is it where you are? hot? >> it certainly is very hot down here. we're a little more used to that. the heat index levels are really at dangerous values now for a lot of the northeast corridor. it feels like 115 in new york city and 111 is what it feels like in d.c. the actual high temperatures are going to be very close to record levels when you factor many the humidity it's going to feel like 115, 116 in d.c. we had a value of 124 in northern virginia yesterday. there will be pockets that are hotter. and then tonight get down to 11:00 tonight, still feels like 100 in philly. and 104 in d.c. that's when it gets dangerous if you don't have a.c. this is going to continue for a couple of days and it starts to get much cooler for sunday and monday. the white house is saying today it's d-day for a debt deal. the debt limit deadline is 11

days away, but approving a deal on capitol hill takes time. the president delivered a stark warning that defaulting on our debt would have serious consequences for average americans. >> if suddenly they started thinking that we might not pay them back on time, at the very least, at the bare minimum they would hire -- charge a much higher interest rate to allow the united states to borrow money. and if interest rate costs go up for the united states, they're probably going to go up for everybody. >> let's bring in cnb's melissa francis. president obama says investors are right to watch this seriously if it looks like they're not going to get paid. >> that's right. he's talking about a huge selloff in the bond market where people like china wouldn't want to hold treasuries any longer. we would see a selloff #bonds.

when the price goes down, the interest rate goes higher. we would have to spend a lot more to have people lend us money and then that would trickle down to almost everything. a lot of mortgage rates the ones that aren't fixed based on that your credit card bills float based on that. there were times decades ago when interest rates were much, much higher and people remember what that was like. he's basically saying that's what could happen. it's certainly a possibility. >> is there anything that average americans should be doing now to prepare in the event of a default? >> prayer. no. you know, there aren't a lot of people out there that think that a default is seriously going to happen. there isn't a ton of preparation going on or they think it would be temporary at least. even if we were put on a credit watch, you know, a lot of people say the experts said it would be on a short-term basis. it's certainly something to worry about. there isn't that much the average person can do. >> what about onwall street? those are the experts when it

comes to the long-term forecast about how one thing will lead to the other. are they making preparations? >> no, you're exactly right. that's exactly the thing to look at and something we've been commenting a lot. is you haven't seen a lot of preparations in the bond market for this. we call them the bond vigilant tees they're the people out there in the bond market, the investors who are also prepared for any eventuality and they aren't taking this threat seriously. they're generally right about these things, the bond market in that sense. you know, it's definitely a possibility out there. there isn't a lot of preparation going on. >> we have a lot of people writing in for the way that they think people should be prepared for this. >> holding cash. that's about all you can do. >> put the cash in your mattress. hold on to it. . detectives in san diego are working around the clock to unravel a mystery in a mansion. a woman found dead at the estate gist two days after her boyfriend's 6-year-old son fell down a flight of stairs and later died.

thorgts say the woman's death is suspicious but they haven't ruled it a suicide or a homicide. they haven't made a decision about which one. we have the newest details from coronado, california. >> reporter: it's been nine days since the woman's body was discovered here at this mansion. from the beginning investigators called this case quote, strange, bizarre and suspicious. and even today there is still no word on how the young beauty died. the county sheriff says 15 detectives are now working this case and investigators will soon recreate rebecca's death. her nude body was found many the courtyard of her boyfriend's mansion. police say a caller to 9-1-1 said she was shanging from the balcony. invest dpat gors say her feet were bound together and her hands behind her back. despite describing the scene as

violent and suspicious, police don't know if it's a homicide or suicide. >> we have had cases where people have secured their hands behind their back or their legislation. it's not unusual. >> reporter: this retired homicide detective says that doesn't make sense to him. >> i just can't see how this girl did this by herself. >> reporter: he isn't involved in this case, but spent 16 years in law enforcement. would you put 15 detectives on something that you thought was a suicide? >> no. no. i wouldn't. >> reporter: investigators say forensic evidence from the home and dna samples from the victim will help solve the mystery. she had been staying in the mansion for the summer with her millionaire boyfriend a pharmaceutical mogul. police say he was not at home at the time and is cooperating with investigators. her sister says rebecca would have never committed suicide. she tells nbc news, she was full of life, vibrant and fun loving. hopefully justice will be done for her. but two days before her body was

discovered the 6-year-old son, mac, fell down a flight of stairs. he died a week later in what police say was a tragic accident. the woman was at the accident when he fell and later dropped off her dog at a boarding company. >> very nice, but very quiet and mellow. she wanted to go to the hospital and not worry about her dog. >> reporter: a death invest now nine days old and still a complete mystery. jonas has had no public comment on the death of his girlfriend. while investigators say forensic results here will be extremely poernt, they say it could take days or weeks for those results to come back. they say they will not rush their investigation. >> thank you. congresswoman meg bachmann's gaining ground in her race for president. why one expert say it's been easy so far. but the next step of her campaign could be a big headache. plus, deal or no deal?

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hi. i'm andrea mitchell. coming up next on "andrea mitchell reports," on 11 days to go. we have new details on the emerging debt deal. we'll go behind the scenes with two members of the gang of six, senators kent conrad and mark warner. police congressman barney frank on what he thinks of the deal. and today's historic move towards ending don't ask, don't tell. we talk to kristin davis joining us about the tragedy unfolding in the horn of africa. ten million people starve manager the word's worst food crisis in years. we'll see you in 15 minutes on "andrea mitchell reports." michele bachmann surged to the head of the presidential pack could be running into some

potential road blocks. today an influential republican fundraiser gave her a thumbs down. he said bachmann just doesn't have the executive experience to be president. earlier this week bachmann faced questions about her physical fitness for the office. the daily caller reports she suffers from possibly debilitating migraines. bachmann's team responded with a note from the congressional held team clipping her fit. >> i'd like to be abundantly clear, my ability to function effectively will not effect my ability to serve as commander in chief. >> in this week's "time" magazine my next guest reports that even though bachmann's road to the white house will get tougher it's too soon to count her out. michael crowley is the washington bureau chief. good to see you. >> thanks for having me. >> you say bachmann has had a fairly easy road, from hereon

out things get bumpy. >> the thing about bachmann the republican activists who like her have had exclusively positive information about her. they see her on tv having a great time. they don't really know some of the things in her record that are now being leaked out or dug up by reporters. leaked out by rivals who are very alarmed by her position, her strength in the polls and dug up by the press just doing its job. the question is, you know, what turns up, does that information turn off some of her supporters? and also how does she handle it? i think she did not handle the story about the migraines all that well. i was in south carolina when a reporter who tried to ask a follow up question of her was blocked and even kind of pushed around a little bit by her security people. they were clearly trying to keep him away. it didn't seem like the best way to respond. >> we saw some similar things happen when sarah palin was out on the campaign trail as the vice presidential nominee.

and the people who like sarah palin didn't seem to mind that unwillingness to engage with journalists. >> no, you're absolutely right. i don't think that that is really the primary issue. but i do think that there's a lot of -- there are a lot of rivals in this race who are going to be coming at her in a very strong way. sarah palin has not yet run in a republican presidential primary. the attacks that sarah palin suffered were from democrats or the media. bachmann is going to have republicans criticizing her record. this migraine story is coming from former aides. one of whom we talked to and quote in my story in "time" this week, these were people who worked for her and not enthusiastic about the idea of her being president of the united states. the question is how does she handle that republican fire? >> further more, she's trying to capitalize now on the debt fight. she's playing this new tv ad in

iowa. is that something sustainable for her? will that get her through a whole presidential cycle? >> you need more than that. it's a great way to get her off the ground. there are a lot of republicans enthusiasting ain't that. look at her poll numbers in iowa and in the national poms. she's in the 20s. there was a poll at 32%. that's not a majority of republican voters. there's a lot of undecided voters out there. texas governor rick perry could still get into the race. she's doing very well. the raw numbers themselves are not that high. she's got to take it a lot further. she needs another act. she needs more to it. she needs to broaden what she's offering. the question is can she pull that off? >> michael crowley, have a good weekend. the crazy race for the gop 2012 republican nomination. republicans seem to be searching for a perfect candidate. ened and there's no shortage of people who think they fit the bill. exnew york mayor rudy giuliani says he'll make a

decision by late summer. he told fox news this time around he has as good a shot as anybody. >> what kind of a chance do i really have? how are the candidates doing? is anybody really -- looks like they can win? >> a poll suggests giuliani could shake things up. he's tied with sarah palin in third place. meanwhile texas governor rick perry is another potential race shaker upper, how do you like that? he's second in the cnn poll. comes in two points behind mitt romney in a fox news poll. that's a virtual tie. he's in third in our nbc news "the wall street journal" poll. >> i'm going through the appropriate thoughtful process. you'll be some of the first to know when i make a final decision. >> don't count the donald out, the dahly caller reports trump's thinking of running as an independent. even though he considers himself a republican, the real estate mogul whose political popularity

surged on his birther bing told a conservative reporter he'd only run if the economy is still bad and the republicans pick a not very good candidate. we're breathless with anticipation. i'm jon haber of alto music. my business is all about getting music into people's hands. and the plum card from american express open helps me do that. you name it, i can buy it. and the savings that we get from the early pay discount has given us money to reinvest back into our business and help quadruple our floor space. how can the plum card's trade terms get your business booming? booming is putting more music in more people's hands.

president obama talked about being the adult in the room. where's his plan to cut spending and raise the debt limit? listen, we're in the first quarter here. we're fighting for jobs. we're fighting for the country's future. and we're fighting for the american people. >> all right. so we're seeing now you heard the house speaker there boehner say, look, we're in the fourth quarter. this it takes time to move this thing through congress to meet the debt ceiling deadline of august 2nd. we have 11 days before that happens. off got big demands from mayors,

from business experts warning lawmakers that defaulting on our debt could have a big impact on all of us. a lot of you are saying you're preparing for the worst. steve says i guess if you're a senior and rely on social security, you'd better make sure your bills are paid up. steven green suggests, learn to grow your own food and buy gold. john vega says as a retired air force person i'm saving up knowing i may not get my retirement check. according to mike schwartz, there's nothing the american public can do nor does it matter if we default on our debt our credit rating is finished and a american economy starts a sharp decline into history. you can reach me on facebook or twitter. the nfl appears to be one step closer to ending a lockout what has dragged on since march. that's because the owners have approved a new deal. it looks like here's the

statement from the nfl player's association we're expecting them to say if they're going to meet the deal. the statement says, player leadership is discussing the most recent written proposal with the nfl chin clouds a settlement agreement, deal terms and the right process for addressing recertification. there will not be any further nfl pa statements today out of respect for the craft family while they morn the loss of myra kraft. the owners have said here it is on the table. let's put it out there and figure out a way out of the lockout. i'm contessa brewer. thank you for watching not only this hour, but this week. i hope you have a great weekend. i'll se you back here monday noon eastern. up next andrea mitchell beating the heat down there in washington, d.c. we're not beating it yet. have a great weekend. coming up here on "andrea mitchell reports," lawmakers are

moving closer to a deal on the debt. but at what cost and do they have a vote? senators kent conrad and mark warner both members of the gang of six joining us. plus an explosion shattering the peaceful city of oslo. sit the city's deadliest bombing ever. a historic day for don't ask, don't tell. "andrea mitchell reports" up next. host: do people use smartphones to do dumb things? man 1: send, that is the weekend. app grapgic: yeah dawg! man 2: allow me to crack...the bubbly! man 1: don't mind if i doozy. man 3: is a gentleman with a brostache invited over to this party? man 1: only if he's ready to rock! ♪ sfx: guitar and trumpet jam vo: geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. whose long day starts with arthritis pain... and a choice. take tylenol arthritis and maybe up to six in a day... or choose aleve and two pills for a day free of pain.

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for a body in motion. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," it's getting serious. the senate kills the house's balanced budget amendment, republicans are venting. >> we have a spending problem. somebody's got to get serious about cutting spending. and our friends across the aisle aren't at all serious about doing what the american people are demanding, spend less. bye. >> but behind the scenes we have learned there is a deal shaping up. deep cuts and tax reform by 2013 or else.